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Yesterday I was sitting at my computer facing a few too many emails and a rather large list of things to do and I could already feel my head start to hurt.

So what did I do? - I went to the park!

I decided if I was going to continue working I would probably be in considerable head pain by the end of the day, so I dropped everything and went to the Brisbane Botanic Gardens at Mt-Cootha and hung out with the birds.

I had my iRiver MP3 player with me and was listening to some podcasts, which created a desire to make one of my own impromptu rambling podcasts. My little iRiver has a built-in microphone, so I was itching to see how good it was - and wow, I’m impressed. The audio quality is not bad I’m sure you will agree, though I hope you like the sound of birds in the background :-).

The podcast is a short one about a whole range of Internet business topics starting with social marketing, moving on to email lists and then finishing with a little note on keeping perspective.

Show Notes

1. Yaro talks about the recent Rich Schefren Attention Doctrine and StomperSMARTS launches
2. A look at how the Internet marketing focus is shifting to social marketing
3. How Yaro is using email lists with his blog to make money
4. Why it is important to focus on intrinsic values and not just money

Click Here to Download the MP3 [ 19 Minutes - 5 MB]

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Download the MP3 [ 37 Minutes - 9 MB]

Steve Iser has been online since he was 9 years old. Now he’s 21 and makes money using social media sites like MySpace and Facebook as marketing tools to promote products.

I called Steve up to do an interview after I finished reading and listening to his Ready.Aim.Wired information product, which teaches how to use social marketing sites to drive leads, build a list and make sales. The book is solid and presents a system that I can actually see working in MySpace because it uses the same language and “model of interaction” as Steve calls it, to establish relationships.

Just like with email marketing or any form of online marketing, you have to build relationships in order to get a positive result and if you are using sites like MySpace to do so, then you have to use the same language and community behavior. Ready.Aim.Wired is a great introduction to how to execute this concept based on what Steve has done in the past.

In the call I wanted Steve to break things done for us because I still didn’t quite understand how his methods work. Steve explained things really well in this interview, so I expect after listening you will have a solid grasp of what it takes to successfully market using social networking sites. There’s a lot more to it than just broadcasting messages to as many people as you can - spamming MySpace, not surprisingly, won’t work.

Here is a breakdown of Steve talked about in the interview. I think you will enjoy the podcast, so make sure you slot in half an hour on your drive to work or when you go walking to have a listen.

Show Notes

1. How Steve first made money on the Internet
2. Why Steve entered into social media marketing
3. How to use MySpace as a direct response marketing tool
4. The importance of natural communication in a social networking site
5. Steve’s model of interaction for attracting targeted friends (leads) from MySpace
6. Outsourcing your MySpace marketing
7. Facebook as a marketing tool
8. What Steve is currently working on

Click Here to Download the MP3 [ 37 Minutes - 9 MB]

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Download the MP3 [ 41 Minutes - 9 MB]

It’s time for podcast episode #40. It’s hard to believe I started podcasting more than two years ago now!

This episode features myself and Darren Rowse and our topic of discussion is blog design. Darren talked about his recent Problogger redesign and how he worked with his designer, Ben Bleikamp. Then we talked about the different professional blog designers currently available (listed below) and how you should work with a designer to minimize the risk of problems.

We went on to discuss how bloggers who have limited financial budgets can go about sourcing a unique blog look, including modifying free themes and why you would want to have a custom design for your blog. We also talked about what a new design can do for you in terms of blog traffic, demonstrating your professionalism and infusing yourself with new energy if you are feeling blogger burn out.

Here’s a list of the resources mentioned in the podcast.

Blog Designers

• The Blog Studio
• Chris Pearson [ pearsonified ]
• Ben Bleikamp
• Nate Whitehill [ Unique Blog Designs ]
• Michael Pollock [ Solostream ]
• Phil Hartle

Freelance Sites

• DesignOutpost.com
• Elance.com
• Guru.com
• Scriptlance.com
• Rentacoder.com

Darren’s Logo Designer

• Mike Rohde [ Makalumedia.com ]

Free WordPress Themes

• http://themes.wordpress.net/

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I’d like to thank Simon Grabowski and his company Implix (the parent company behind the Get Response email autoresponder), who have been a long term sponsor of Entrepreneurs-Journey and have just renewed for another six month campaign.

Get Reponse has supported this blog since it was less than half the size it is now and without help from sponsors like them I doubt I would still be working as hard as I do at my blogging.

Get Response is an industry leading email autoresponder service and worth investigating as one of your top choices if you are looking to start email marketing.

Talkstream Video and Audio Streaming Service Launches

Implix’s latest offering, Talkstream, launched last week and on first inspection looks pretty good. Simon and his team are really following the trends, this time offering a video and audio subscription service designed to make multimedia production accessible to everyone, even absolute amateurs.

TalkStream offers -

Audio & Video Tools - All you need is a microphone for audio and a webcam for video. No special software, no expensive hardware, no programming skills are needed.

Podcast Tools - Communicate with your visitors more effectively. Syndicate, distribute and promote your content on iTunes and other podcast networks, automatically.

Phone Tools - Client testimonials recording.

It’s worth visiting the Talkstream website just to see the wonderful talking lady who gets very excited about all that Talkstream has to offer . You can’t offer a video service without using some kind of video to promote right? - Although I would have preferred to see Simon there talking to me because I like the personal touch, but maybe that’s because I’m a blogger.

If you have been thinking about podcasting and/or video blogging, perhaps Talkstream is the answer to break down the technical barriers so you can get started.

Check it out here -

www.talkstream.com/

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This is a guest article by Corinne Edwards, who is following the training she has received in Blog Mastermind by submitting guest articles to help build her traffic.

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I had a TV show for eleven years and did more than 400 interviews for a major cable station. I was fortunate to have a great interviewing coach so I thought I would share some of the techniques and advice I was given. Take what you need here to put together a great interview.

1. This is probably the most important point. Your guest is the star of the show. Not you. Do not give your opinion on anything. Do not tell stories about your experiences. People are listening because you have an important guest and they want to hear what that person has to say. What you have to say is on your blog. You can write a follow up later if you like.

2. Your podcast is on your blog so the listener already knows where they are. Do not spend more than one minute introducing yourself. Just a warm welcome and thanks for being with us today and your name.

3. Your introduction should obviously be longer when introducing your guest. Give their credentials. Also, ask for a bio in advance so you know what they like to stress about themselves. Ask them. Do not mention why you asked them to be on your show. That’s about you. This interview is about them. Thank them warmly for coming on.

Read the rest of this entry >>

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